ASHOK AGRAWAL, DM, PE, is the managing director for professional development and director of outreach and engagement at the American Society for Engineering Education. Ashok has served engineering and engineering technology and has held every professorial and administrative position from instructor to chief academic officer. As director of the Emerson Center, Agrawal actively engaged with St. Louis Community College’s Workforce and Community Development, St. Louis County Economic Council, and the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association (RCGA).

Agrawal received his Doctorate in Management degree from University of Maryland University College, and holds an MS degree in Materials Science, an MS degree in Mining Engineering from the University of Kentucky, and a BS degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Nagpur University in India. Before joining St. Louis Community College, Agrawal was a tenured Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Engineering Technology at West Virginia Institute of Technology.

Prior to assuming his present position he was the vice president for Academic Affairs, dean of the Math, Science, Engineering, and Technology Division and responsible for leading and administering its transfer and career programs at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley. His efforts led to the establishment of the Emerson Center for Engineering and Manufacturing, the development of the joint 2+2 Bachelor’s degree program with Southeast Missouri State, and creation of several customized training programs for key regional corporations including Ameren, AT&T, and Boeing.

In 2006, he was selected to participate in Leadership St. Louis® (LSL), one of the most highly-respected leadership development programs in the nation. The program was built on the belief that the community, just as any business organization, requires strong leadership to grow and improve. In the same year, he was appointed by the Governor of Missouri to serve on the Missouri Math, Engineering, Technology, and Science (Mo-METS) task force, and served on the Mo-METS coalition. He also serves on the planning team of the St. Louis Region’s FIRST Robotics Competition and has served on the science advisory committee of the St. Louis Science Center. He is also a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers- Education Foundation board.

Agrawal has been honored with numerous awards and recognitions. He is the recipient of the 2003 Florissant Valley David L. Underwood Lecture Award, and also the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. An ASEE Fellow, he is the recipient of 2012 James H. McGraw Award and 1996 Frederick J. Berger Award, He has served ASEE in numerous offices of the Engineering Technology Council and Division, and on the Technology Accreditation Commission of ABET.

Agrawal and his colleagues led the effort to establish a St. Louis Regional Engineering Academy for St. Louis area schools, which included the implementation of Project Lead The Way engineering curriculum. He has received several grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), and other public and private agencies, including a grant for the College Career Transition Initiative from the League of Innovations for Community Colleges.

He has served as a Program Officer at the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation, and continues to assist NSF on special projects. Agrawal has also served on the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Committee to Advance Engineering Studies at Tribal Colleges, the NAE Committee on Community Colleges Role in Engineering and Education, and the National Research Council (NRC) Board on Engineering Education.

Ashok Agrawal has also been involved in international activities collaborating with Georgetown University to coordinate The Cooperative Association of States for Scholarships (CASS) program which provides technical training and professional training for low-income and rural students from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua; and The Scholarships for Education and Economic Development (USAID SEED) Program, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and administered by Georgetown University’s Center for Intercultural Education and Development (CIED).